ABOUT JOHN F. KURDZIONAK and his clock repair business I have been around the clock and watch business all my life. My Father began repairing watches and clocks as a hobby in the 1960s, and by the time I was born in 1971, he was operating a small watch and clock repair shop in our basement. My first words were "tick tock", and before I was 10 years old, my father had taught me how to take apart watches and clocks and put them back together. My father's "basement" clock and watch repair business grew so much, that in 1981 he left his full time job as a high school science teacher in the Medford, MA school system, and began repairing watches and clocks full-time in our home for several Boston-area jewelry stores and private clientele. In the early 1980s, I spent countless hours in that shop, watching him and helping him. In 1987 my parents moved the business out of our home and opened a small retail watch and clock repair shop, called The Watchmaker, in our hometown of Stoneham, MA, (Stoneham is about 8 miles north of Boston). You may see the store's web site at www.thewatchmaker.com. I graduated from Stoneham (MA) High School in 1989. I attended Merrimack College in North Andover, MA, and have a Bachelor's Degree in Management (1993). While attending Merrimack College, I helped out at my parents' store; I studied machine shop at Minuteman Regional Vocational trade school (Lexington, MA) at night; and I worked as a "gopher" and then a machine operator at a commercial machine shop part-time. By this time I was in my late teens, yet at that young age, I had already begun purchasing equipment and machine tools for [what would someday become] the "parts manufacturing" aspect my clock repair business. August, 1996: John F. Kurdzionak about to run a Cog Railway locomotive to the summit of Mt. Washington, NH.   While in my last year of college (and for several years on a part-time basis after that), I was employed as a brakeman, a fireman, and engineer on the mountain-climbing trains and steam locomotives of the Mt. Washington Cog Railway in New Hampshire. It was full-time summer work when I was in college, but as the years passed I only worked there "on occasion" and "as available". I last worked there in the summer of 2001. If you rode the Mt. Washington Cog Railway at any time between June of 1992 and July of 2001, I may have been your brakeman, fireman, or engineer. After college graduation, I worked for the family business full-time. My parents hired me to repair all the clocks that came into The Watchmaker. In 1994 I took some mechanical engineering courses at the University of Lowell (MA), but, a desire to no longer be in a college setting (I was sick of it as soon as I started), as well as an exploded appendix that nearly killed me, put an end to my days at U-Lowell. Upon my recovery, I continued to work for the family. My higher education was over!   A young John Kurdzionak, Circa 1993, reassembling a Chelsea clock after repairing it. During the mid- and late-1990s, I enhanced my knowledge of clock repair by taking weekend and week-long courses on several aspects of clockmaking taught by recognized masters in the business including Buddy Carpenter, Jerry Faier, and the late Roy Hovey. Courses included gearcutting, pinion cutting, and escapement making and repair. In 1998, I rented commercial space in Stoneham Square (around the corner from our store The Watchmaker) to handle the level of machinery and equipment I had acquired, and the number of clocks that I was being called upon to service for The Watchmaker. This space served as my private repair shop and was not open to the public for walk-in business. But shortly after moving there, I realized that large numbers of people were calling and e-mailing us at THE WATCHMAKER from across the USA, wanting their cuckoo clocks repaired. Thus at my new location, I began a "mail order" cuckoo clock repair business (via The Watchmaker), for people who could not locate shops local to them who were willing, or able, to repair their cuckoo clocks. In 2001 and 2002, I furthered my machine shop skills by attending Wentworth Institute of Technology's Machine Tool Operation and CNC (computer-controlled) Machine Shop courses in Boston, at Wentworth's evening trade school for adults. By 2005, I had outgrown my small location in Stoneham. It had long prior to that become inadequate space in which to perform repairs or operate a business. In December 2005, a large commercial room in Cummings Park in Woburn, Mass. was leased. The year 2006 was spent setting up the shop, and preparing to open for the public, as well as completing prior and current repairs. I have literally spent an entire lifetime in the business, and more than a decade full-time at the repair bench. I have repaired thousands of antique and modern timepieces as a career, not a hobby, and have manufactured and fitted custom-made parts for many of them. Quality service, done right the first time, is my promise to you. Please see about my shop for more detailed information. My new shop in Woburn, MA will be open to the public effective January 2007. At that time, this website will be up-dated to reflect the opening, and the business hours. However, effective August 2006 I am available to customers on a limited, "as available" appointment basis. If you are local to the Boston area and would like a price quote to repair your clock, please Contact Me to make arrangements to bring it to me. Please see "shipping" if you are not local to Boston and would like me to repair your clock "through the mail". Please browse my web page to learn more about me, my shop, and the services I can provide. If you have any questions, or if what you're looking for is not here, please call, fax, or e-mail me, and I'd be happy to answer your inquiry. Please see my Contact Page for phone numbers and email address. Thank you very much for finding this web page, and for taking the time to read it. -- John F. Kurdzionak   Life Member, American Watchmakers-Clockmakers Institute (AWCI) Member, National Association Watch and Clock Collectors (NAWCC) Past President, Boston's Massachusetts Watchmakers-Clockmakers Association (MWCA) Past Affiliate Ch. Chairman (2001-2003), American Watchmakers-Clockmakers Institute  Member, British Horological Institute (BHI) back to top of page   [home]   [about me]   [repairs]   [policies & privacy]   [contact me]   [links]